Checkpoint work closer to approval

A Border Patrol plan to detour traffic on Interstate 19 to accommodate a checkpoint in Tubac is inching forward. State officials were given a document Monday that should allow them to issue a needed permit, Border Patrol officials said Tuesday.

The timeline for checkpoint construction is now in the hands of the Arizona Department of Transportation, which needs to issue a permit, and the contractor, MRM Construction of Phoenix, Border Patrol Division Chief John Fitzpatrick said He spoke during a meeting in Tucson with more than a dozen business officials and residents from Tubac, Green Valley and Sahuarita.

The biggest community concern is that existing disruption on the freeway at Continental Road in Green Valley, combined with the need for northbound traffic to go through the planned detour and the Tubac checkpoint, could discourage visitors from attending the Tubac Art Festival in February.

Fitzpatrick and agents Jeff Tanner and Alan White were peppered with questions about whether the project could be delayed, but basically said it could not. They said that once ADOT issues a permit, the contractor has 90 days to complete the project, which involves building a one-lane detour from northbound I-19 across the median to the southbound lanes, where northbound traffic will flow for some distance and then another detour back across the median to the existing temporary Tubac checkpoint.

The detour project is relatively simple and would not take long to complete, White said, so the timing of the ADOT permit may have the most impact on businesses in Tubac.

Fitzpatrick said that if the state issues a permit in the next few weeks, the detour could be built by mid-January, or if the state delays issuing a permit for two to three months, the project might not start until after the art festival begins.

Tubac Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Carol Cullen said that businesses suffered last winter because of the economy and if they lose out again because of highway problems, some businesses will close their doors.

Fitzpatrick said he could not support any delay in developing the checkpoint in part because he must ensure the safety of agents who are now standing in the middle of a crowded freeway.